Compressor



June 12, 1923. 458,702

' C. C. HANSON ET AL COMPRESSOR Filer! May 31 1921 Patented Just 12, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENTOOFFICE.

cultures 0. HANSON Ami JOHN 'rwnnnowsxr, or cmcnoo, rumors, 'Assmnons, BY mnsnn nssmnmnn'rs, 'ro UNIVERSE CORPORATION, or cnrceeo, rumors, n

CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

COMPRESSOR.

' Application and Kay 31, 1921. Serial No. 473,781.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, (humans G. HANSON, a citizen of the- United States, and JOHN Twnnnowsxr, a citizen of Russia, both residin at Chicago, in the county of Cook and tate' of Illinois, .have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Compressor; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap ertains to make and use the same.

r invention relates to fluid compressors, its general objects being those of provid ng simple and eflfective means for separatm lubricating oil from the compressed flui and tordelivering the separated oil to the chamber from" which the lubricating oil is suplied.

noperatin many types of compressors, such as those ormingportions of mechanical refrigeratin outfits for household. or-

store use, it is i hly desirable that automatically o erate means should be provided for In ricating the compressor, so as to obviate the necessity of having skilled attendants or of depending on the users for attending to the lubrication. To insure an ample supply of the lubricant for long pe-.

riods of t1me, it is desirable in such cases to take the lubricant from an oil reservoir of large capacity, and in practice a lubrication adequate for reducing the friction to a minimum and for preventinga wearing of the parts can only be obtained by supp excess of the oil'to these movmg parts. on-

. sequently, some of this excess is apt to be by the clan mixed with the compressed fluid and discharged with the latter into parts of the refrigerating system where the presence of the lubricant may interfere with the expansion valve and may otherwise be highly undesirable. v For example, with a piston and cylinder type of compressor such as the one resulted in our. copending application No. 469,110, filed May 13, 1921, on a compressor, we have shown a compressor in which the piston is continuously lubricated b oil'stored in the crank casing and splashe out of the latter and the pitman when the compressor is in operation, With, such an arrangement, a ortion of the fluid Wlll tend to leak throng between the piston and the cylinder duringthe compression period of also aims to provide simp chamber. Moreover 7 each cycle of operation and will therefore enter the crank casing, so that itis necessary to have this crank casln substantially sealed to avoid a leaka e of tie fluid through the same, as such lea age not only would mean' a gradual loss of the charge of fluid but would also be objectionable owing to the poisonous nature of the compressible fluids commonly used in-mechanical refrigerating systems. This sealin 7 causes the leakage of compressed fluid into the sameto raise the pressure within the chamber, thereby introducing a back pressure which will resist the tendency of the fluid within. the cylinder from forcing the .70 thin film of oil which surrounds the piston back into the crank chamber. Con uently, some of this oil will be expelled with the comgressed fluid into the discharge assage' of t e compressor.

lighter specific gravity will cause it to float upon the subsequently liquefied fluid, thereby interfering with the proper action of the expansion valve to an extent which will gradually increase as the proportion of oil 1s increased during the continuous operation of the compressor.

Our invention aims to overcome such as this and other'possible difficulties by providin means for automatically separatm the oi from the fluid after the latter has en compressed and before this fluid is delivered to the expansion valve of the system. It also aims to provide simple'means for returning the separated oil to the oil reservoir (which in the above mentioned instance would be the crank casing) and aims to employ the pressure of the compre med fluid for this purpose without having the fluid itself 9 follow into the oil reservoir. Moreover, our invention aims to employ an exceedingly simple and inexpensive arrangement .for

this purpose, aims to utilize the usual compressing mechanism of the compressor for I automatically opening and closing the oil return connection at the right periods. It

e and effective means for adjusting the rate at which the oil is returned, so that this returning ma be properly proportioned to the rate at wli ich oil was carried through the compressing our invention aims to provide an exceedingly sim le, compact and inexpensive construction 1 of the crank chamber "05 If this oil is, le t inter- 75 mingled with the compressed fluid, its

or this general and one which does not involve any parts likely to et outof order. Still further and more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and rom the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a central and vertical section through a fluid compressor equipped with the oil separating means of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken through-the upper portion of Fig. 1 axially of the cylinder and at right angles to Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the oil separating chamber, taken along the corres ondingly numbered line in Fig. 1.

n the embodiment of the drawings, we are showing a compressor including a cylinder 1 having a lateral fluid inlet 2 intermediate of its ends, so that the piston 3 acts as its own valve for controlling the admission of the fluid to the cylinder. We are also showing the compressor as havin a movable. cylinder head 4 mounted for a s ight movement longitudinally of the cylinder within a storage chamber- 5 from which the compressed fluid is gradually discharged through an outlet 6 in an annular boss 7 which forms a stop for limiting the movement of the cylpurpose,

. inder head 4 away from the cylinder proper.

compressor cylinder.

Instead of having the outlet 6 lead directly to the piping 8 of the refrigerating system in connection with which the compressor is used, we interpose between these a. chamber 9 of considerably larger bore and desirably extendin for some distance below the outlet pipe 8. ounted within the chamber 9 are a series of bafies, each of which is here shown as comprising a sheet metal disk 10 having a series of downwardly directed tongues 11 bent at an acute angle from the plane of the disk, so that these tongues will be interposed in the path of the fluid passing through the openings formed by bending the tongues out. of the plane of the disk from which they were formed. With the bafies thus arranged, the particles of oil carried over into the chamber 9 with the compressed fluid will be caught upon these baffles and will drip into the bottom of the chamber.

' Each of the baflles desirably has a lower edge portion cut awayas shown in Fig. 3 soas to permit the accumulating oil 12 to flow freely along the bottom of the chamber 9 into an oil return duct 13, which ductis desirably formed in the adjacent wall of the This duct 13 is connected to the bore of the cylinder by a port 14 which is so located that it is covered by the piston 3 during almost the entire reciprocation of the latter, being only opened at the bottom of this piston when the piston is at the extreme end of its compression stroke I as shown in Fig. 2, or in other words at the.

time when the compressed fluid is being discharged from the cylinder into the storage;

chamber 5. -When the piston reachesthisl to the rateat which the oil point, the port 14 is uncovered and the pressure of the fluid in the chamber 9 forces oil from the return duct 13 through the port 14 into the cylinder below the piston, thereby returning the oil to the crank chamber which forms the oil reservoir. If this forcing of 'the oil through the port 14 were unduly rapid, all of the oil which had accumulated in the duct 13 and the chamber 9 might be returned in this manner to the crank casing and some of the compressed fluid might then follow into the letter also. To avoid this, we provide suitable means for throttling the returning of the oil, asfor example by using a-needle valve 15 threaded into the wall of the cylinder adjacent to the juncture of the duct 13 with being accessible when a suitably packed cap screw 16 is removed. By properly adjusting the valve 15 we can readily throttle the returning of the oil to an extent proportioned v is being carried over into the oil-separating chamber 9, thereby continuously maintaining such a supply of oil the bottom of the chamber 9 also) as will in the duct 13 (and possibly in the port 14, this needle valve seal the said oil return passa s against hav- I ing the compressed fluid fol ow the oil into the lower portion of the cylinder and hence into the crank casing.

To increase the effectiveness of the baflles, we desirably arrange these with the openings and tongues on consecutive bafies in staggered relation, thereby compelling the fluid to follow a zigzag course through the chamber 9 and effectively insuring the desired separation of oil from the fluid before it reaches the outlet pipe 8. We also desirably interpose a fluid storage chamber (such as the chamber 5) between the compression chamber (or cylinder) and the part of the discharge assage in which the baffles are located. y making this storage chamber of considerably larger cross-section than its connection to the said discharge passage part 9 we cause the compressed fluid to flow at a retarded speed past the baflies and hence 'avoid having an unduly fast rush of the .rangement of the baffle plates which form the oil separating means and including a throttling valve of a pointed-screw type, we do not wish to be limited to these or other details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed, it being obvious that various However, while we have illustrated and aratin .range for automatically connecting the oilmodifications might be made without departing from the spirit of our invention or from the a pended claims. Neither do we wish to be imited to the use of our invention in connection with a refrigerator system or in connection with a movable piston head construction and an oil leak deterring groove 17 after the manner of our said copending application, although we have found that the oil separating and returning means of our invention are adequate for separating and returning the" somewhat larger amount of oil which may be carried over with the compressed fluid when the cylinder is equip ed with a fluid-leak deterring groove 1 after the manner described in our said companion application.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a compressor and in combination, an oil reservoir, oil-separating means in the discharge passage of the compressor, and

oil return means operatively connecting the oil-separating means automatically with the oil reservoir only during the discharge of compressed fluid from the compression chamber.

2. In a compressor and in combination, an

discharge passage 0 the compressor, oil re-" turn means interposed between the oil-sepmeans and the oil reservoir and arseparating means with the oil-reservoir only during the discharge of compressed fluid from the compression chamber, and adjustable means for throttling the said oil return means.

3. In a fluid compressor and in combination, oil-separating means in the discharge of the compressor, an oil reservoir, and throttled oil return means automatically connecting the oil-separating means wit the oil reservoir during the discharge of fluid from the com ression chamber, the said return means being operatively disconnected during the remainder 0 each cycle of operation of the compressor.

4. In combination, a fluid compressor, an oil-separating chamber through which the compressed fluid is discharged, an oil reservoir, means within the said chamber for sepleading from the said chamber to the oil res ervoir, automatically operating means for 'efiectively opening the duct only at the time uid is discharged, an oil reser chamber for separating oil from the compresed fluid, and an oil return duct leading from the said chamber to the cylinder and so connected to the latter as to have its connection automatically uncovered by the iston only when the piston is at the en of' its fluid compressing stroke.

7. The combination with a fluid compressor, of an oil reservoir arranged for supplying lubricant therto, an oi -separating chamber disposed above the oil reservoir and through which the compressed fluid is discharged, means within the chamber for separating oil from the compressed fluid, and an oil return duct leading from the bottom of the oil-separating chamber to the oil reservoir and so connected to the flatter as to have its connection automatically opened only at the extreme intake time .of the compressor. a I

8. The combination with a fluid compressor of the piston and cylinder type having a supply of lubricating oil in the crank case thereof, of an oil-separating chamber disposed above the said crank case, means within the said chamber for separatm oil from the com ressed fluid, and an oi return duct lea ing from the bottom of the chamber into the cylinder at a point disposed between the plston and the crank case when the piston is at the end of its compression stroke.

9. The combination with a fluld comressor of the piston and cylinder t pe havmg a supply of lubricating oil in t e crank case thereof, of an oil-separatmg chamber disposed above the said crank case, mean s within the said chamber for separating 011 from the compressed fluid, an oil return duct leading from the bottom of the chamber into the cylinder at a point disposed between the piston and the crank case when the 1ston is at the end of its compression stro e, and an adjustable valve arranged for throttling the said duct. 7

10. In a fluid compressor and incombination, a cylinder havinga dischar outlet at its upper end, a piston slidable t ereln, a crank case opening into the lower endof the cylinder and serving also as a lubrlcant v reservoir, an qileseparator disposed above a the lowermost point reached by the piston and disposed in the path of the. fluid compressed by the cylinder and discharged through the said outlet, and an 011 return duct connecting the bottom of the oil reservoir to the bore of the cylinder just below ithe point reached by the lower end of the not compressor,

oil to the oil reservoir, "and a compression adjacent to the oil-' chamber interposedbetween 'thecompressor 10 and the oil-separating means and having a restricted opening towards the latter so as to reduce the speed with which the compressed fiuid passes the oil-separating means.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois,

' CHARLES C. HANSON. JOHN TWARDOWSKY.

May 13th, 15 

